UMC, Hon Hai bolster hiring as business picks up

SALARY INCREASE:Hon Hai Group chief Terry Gou promised to add NT$3,000 per month to the salaries of employees earning less than NT$1.2 million a year

By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter, with CNA

United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 3 contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to recruit 1,200 engineers and research-and-development staff this year.

The chipmaker said it plans to hire more staff to develop advanced technologies and patents.

UMC’s planned recruitment is the latest among similar actions taken by local technology firms, amid signs that the global economy is picking up.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), which assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc, said at a media event on Wednesday that it would raise the wages of employees who earn less than NT$1.2 million per year (US$39,500).

The company plans to add at least NT$3,000 per month to the salaries of this group of employees starting next month, adding that it would review its wage policy every six months and raise salaries every year, Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) vice chairman Tai Cheng-wu (戴正吳) said.

Hon Hai last gave a pay raise in November last year, raising salaries by an average of 6 percent.

Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said the group is recruiting more than 15,000 workers in Taiwan this year, with research and development accounting for 70 percent of the jobs, to help the group maintain a work force of 1 million to 1.2 million.

On the news that Google Inc is hiring more engineers in Taiwan, Gou said the group is willing to double or triple the pay of engineers who have received job offers from Google.

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